Has the State lost interest in facilitating the operations of the ‘Shramik Specials’ kicked off by Railways for the movement of the stranded migrant workers, pilgrims, tourists, students and others?
With just six days left for the winding up of the Shramik Specials as announced by Railways, it is almost certain that the repatriation of the 2.75 lakh migrant labourers in Kerala who had expressed their desire to return to their States will not be accomplished.
For the last three days, no Shramik Special has operated from the key railway stations under Thiruvananthapuram division. This is amidst the migrant labourers who had been working for the upcoming shopping mall turning violent demanding trains to return to their States. Two Shramik Specials left from Tirur and Mangaluru Junction on Monday and on May 10 also there were two special trains from Palakkad division.
Lack of pace
Railways have all along been pointing out that the pace of the facilitation for the movement of the migrant labourers are not on the expected level. It is for the State government to get the No Objection Certificate from the receiving State for Railways to operate the trains.
As on May 11, 468 Shramik Special trains have been operationalised from various States across the country, in which 363 trains had reached its destination and 105 trains are in transit.
Of these 468 special trains, only 30 have originated from Kerala with Thiruvananthapuram division arranging 14 trains and Palakkad division 16.
Taking into account the 1,200 passengers who are allowed to travel on an average in these trains, only 36,000 migrant labourers out of the 2.75 migrant labourers in the State who had expressed their desire to return to their State.
Even if five Shramik Special trains are operated daily till May 17, only 30,000 migrant labourers will be able to travel. Besides securing the NOC from the receiving State, the screening of the migrant workers before boarding the trains, transportation from the camps and arranging food and water are the major challenges faced by the State. Lack of coordination between Railways and the State government also has caused delays.